Only Exception
by BellaFortuna
Summary: She was turned by accident 122 years ago and has been searching for the one who did it. In the interim, Bella Swan makes the best of her situation by doing something other vampires probably wouldn't waste their time doing. Her activities lead her to a family in Forks, WA and maybe even possibly the one who turned her. She just has to get through a particular Cullen first. AU.


_**A/N: Hey everyone. This isn't exactly my first Twilight fanfiction, but it's the first one I'm posting. I don't want to summarize my work in fear of giving too much of the plot away, but this is AU and Bella is a vampire with an interesting side job. Read more to find out how everything develops. Thanks in advance for taking the time to peruse this little story of mine!**_

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and any original characters. The Twilight franchise belongs to Stephenie Meyers and Summit Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Prologue

_I'm sure you're all thinking what's her deal? Why does she never smile? Why does she perpetually seem pissed off with the world? What's so terrible about her life that she can't muster up the energy to show an ounce of gratitude in still being alive? Don't worry. I ask those questions of myself and the answers are never really satisfying. They do nothing to change or alter the circumstances. It sure as hell doesn't help in making my feel better about my situation._

_I really shouldn't call it a situation. A situation was something that was temporary and could change for the good or the worse in the snap of the fingers. What I had was permanent. Well…as permanent as something can be or get and it was definitely a lifestyle. Not exactly the one I had been born into, but one I inherited in a truly painful and stomach churning way. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself._

_My name is Isabella Marie Swan, but I prefer to go by Bella, and I'm not what you think. You might be picturing in your head an awkward and social inept wallflower who keeps her nose tucked firmly between the pages of a book and had mastered the art of making herself be invisible. You'd only be half right. I was that way. A hundred and twenty-two years ago. Parts of me are still like that but I've evolved into so much more._

_My secret, in today's time it's not really all that shocking. But needless to say, I'm a Cold One, Blood drinker. I'm a vampire. Are you scared? Yeah, I didn't think so._

_What I can remember from my life are only bits and pieces, but I do know my life ended on a dirt road in Phoenix, Arizona in 1892. I remember…dropping one of my gloves after leaving the house of a sick family friend and there had been a man who picked it up, called for my attention. Only two distinctive features struck out at me about that vampire. He had scars and flaxen curly hair. But it was the scars that were the most telling because the only thing strong enough to leave a scar on a vampire was another vampire._

_After that things typically went blank and I just remember being in the worst pain any human being could experience. Like being shot and having a mixture of battery and sulfuric acid poured into the wound stitched closed with salt. Now imagine having that encompass every square inch of your body and still that wouldn't be an accurate description of those agonizing three days of my life._

_I can also recall trivial things like the scent of my mother's skin, but her name escapes me. I had a father, a man with a mustache I remember him being so proud of, and a little sister who carried a doll with a painted face exactly like hers. I think I may have had a little brother as well but I believe he died shortly after childbirth._

_Those pieces, those fragments are what I clung to of my old life. I didn't think anything could be strong or fierce enough to erase eighteen years of my life, yet vampire venom will do that to you I suppose._

_Now I'm living in the modern era—searching. Searching for the one who made me this way. Indestructible with a maddening bloodlust that only consumes my every waking thought. I want to know why this happened to me. Had I been signaled out? Or…was my immortal existence merely a feeding gone wrong? I really do believe I was meant to die on that road that night._

_Inexplicably I didn't._

_Throughout the decades I've met others like myself. They've told me not to look for answers because there are none to give, none to learn. You were made; it's been said a hundred times over, deal with it. That's the consensus I've reached and you know what? I find it all to be rudimentary bullshit._

_Some great philosopher said everything happens for a reason, well I want to know the reason. I want to know why this happened to me. I want to know who did this to me. I want the missing pieces of that night back. My family, I can't help them since they're all dead. My descendants are not. This isn't my time and I really don't belong here but I want to fit in here. Perhaps that may make me weak in other's eyes but this life was given to me. Why me and not the next person?_

_Driving oneself crazy was never a good idea. Besides, there are far more important things for me to do. And people I have to eat. I'll get answers one day. Hopefully that day will be coming soon._

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The pitter patter of rain made blood-red eyes flutter open. Feigning sleep had been more habit than anything else. She couldn't sleep. Not in the traditional sense, but laying down in bed, closing her eyes and willing her mind to conjure up images from a life she lived a hundred and twenty-two years ago was one of a handful of ways she's learned to cope and keep her sanity fully intact.

Though many more might argue what she was doing, the practice she had implemented would serve to do her more harm than good. Vampires were progressive beings and should always move forward and not look back. There was nothing there for you anyways other than a pile of corpses and a blood trail several hundred miles long. It wasn't the blood, the feeding, or the occasional kill that kept her feet moving forward. No. That wasn't it for Bella Swan at all.

Her Vancouver apartment was ice cold. It might even be warmer outside than the interior of her apartment. It didn't matter either way because she didn't get hot or cold. She was a block of ice naturally. Bella never shook hands with humans knowing they'd recoil from her hard, cold skin. And that was fine by her. Cordiality was reserved for those whose veins she wanted to lacerate and rupture with her razor sharp teeth. Everyone else she treated like vapor.

Using her legs, Bella kicked the ivory white duvet off her body. She wore nothing more substantial than a black lace demi bra and lacy boy shorts. There was no one around she needed to impress or seduce. Clothes were of course a much needed luxury, but when it came time to "sleep" she much preferred nudity or being as naked as possible without going full frontal because she enjoyed the way Egyptian cotton felt along her skin. It was a relaxing sensation and a useful reminder she could "feel" something

Bella sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She scanned her apartment—a custom of hers that was hard to break after living very briefly with a nest of vampires in Paris, France who didn't understand the fundamental rules of 'don't touch my shit'. Nothing was out of place nor did she expect anything to be out of place. Stretching her arms above her head and cracking her polished toes, Bella ran a hand through her messy and slightly curled mahogany hair, and then reached under her pillow to remove her silver plated Beretta.

She scoffed slightly and wondered why she even had it. Like she needed it. A bullet would shatter the minute it impacted with her skin. If a human tried to invade her home, one good punch to the jaw and Bella would render the person unconscious or worse—dead. The gun had been a gift so there was some sentimental value to it; regardless she ran her small fingers over the barrel and placed the gun in the top drawer of her night table.

Standing to her feet, Bella quickly made up her bed, turned on her _Bose _sound system, and began bobbing her head to Paramour.

The dark-haired vampire stumbled a little on her feet, tripping over a wayward Converse sneaker and had to shake her head. She had damn near perfect senses but apparently her reflexes still needed some work, some fine tuning. That was one human quirk she hadn't been able to abolish and another memory flared to life.

For a tenth of a second, Bella saw herself clutching a stair rail as her foot invariably got twisted in her skirt and petticoat and she nearly plunged head first down the stairs of her family home. Snorting again, Bella sat down in her desk swivel chair and booted up her Mac.

Rising once more, Bella retrieved an emergency blood bag out of her refrigerator, dumped the contents inside, and nuked it for two minutes. Steam rose and along with it the heady metallic fragrance of human blood. Bella held the mug almost reverently between two hands, brought it close to her nose and deeply inhaled the rich, decadent, mouth-watering scent.

Her venom pooled in the bottom of her mouth and Bella swallowed it as well as a mouthful of donated blood down the hatch. Swiping her tongue over the seam of her lips to lick away the residue, Bella trotted back over to her laptop and signed in to check her email.

Humming, she trashed what was spam mail and obvious scan mail, and saw nothing from any of her friends, the few vampires she trusted. Right when she was about to exit out of her Gmail, something popped into her inbox and was flagged as highly important.

Clicking on it, Bella read over the contents, and then mentally encoded the information into her brain before deleting it.

_He's back. Following me again. Can you help?_

The words of the email she just received. If there was one thing Bella Swan couldn't stand or tolerate were clingy, obsessed ex-boyfriends with stalker tendencies. They were fun to eat but a pain to get rid of.

Her plans for a nice quiet hunt during the college surge down at Quisby's Pub would have to be slightly altered. And who knows? She might have to use her Beretta after all.

Bella shutdown her Mac and headed over to her closet. Time to get her day officially started.

**A/N: Okay so not too much action happened, but I wanted to introduce a little bit of Bella's back story. She will be OOC from time to time since this is an alternate universe, but there will be characteristics and quirks of hers that we're all familiar with I'll do my best to keep intact. Let me know what you think and thanks again for reading.**


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